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Davis, LA dominates Phoenix in the 1st quarter

Davis, LA dominates Phoenix in the 1st quarter
Posted on | Posted on angela

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The Phoenix Suns (2-1) host the Los Angeles Lakers (3-0) on Monday at the Footprint Center in a game that will air on Arizona's Family (Ch. 3 TV) at 7 p.m

This will be the second meeting between the Suns and Lakers in a week after Phoenix suffered a 123-116 loss in LA on Friday.

The Suns are coming off their 114-102 home opener win against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday. The Lakers remain undefeated under new coach JJ Redick, including their recent home win against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.

The Lakers are led by the All-Star duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Find live updates on scores, highlights and statistics during the Suns-Lakers game on azcentral.

Suns' Durant counters Lakers' Davis dominance in first quarter

Kevin Durant scored 12 points (5 of 8 shooting) for Phoenix in the opening period, but they trailed 34-25 early in the second, largely because of Los Angeles' Anthony Davis.

The Suns had no answer for the Lakers' All-Star center, who had 16 points (7 of 11), four rebounds and two blocks. After the Lakers took an early 5-4 lead after about nine minutes, they extended their lead to 21-6 and extended their largest lead to 18 points. The Suns' Jusuf Nurkic (two points) had trouble defending against Davis' rim attack.

But Durant scored 10 points in the final five minutes of the quarter to extend the lead to nine.

Starting lineups

The Suns will start point guard Tyus Jones, Devin Booker at two, Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant and Jusuf Nurkic at center.

The Lakers open with D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, LeBron James at the three, power forward Rui Hachimura and center Anthony Davis.

Beal will play, Allen will make his debut against the Lakers

Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said during his pregame media release that Bradley Beal (elbow) has been upgraded from questionable to available.

Budenholzer also said that their sixth man, Grayson Allen, will not be on a minutes restriction in his debut against the Lakers. Allen played only in the Suns' first preseason win against the Lakers on Oct. 6, then missed Phoenix's next four and first three regular-season games due to Achilles tendon soreness and personal reasons. Allen was the NBA's best 3-point shooter last season (46.1%).

Beal against Lakers questionable

According to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic, Bradley Beal is listed as questionable for Monday night's return game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Footprint Center due to right elbow soreness. The three-time All-Star attended the shootaround at the team's practice facility Monday morning after missing Saturday's home opener against the Dallas Mavericks.

Grayson Allen was also present at Monday's shooting and is not listed in the report, having previously been listed as absent for personal reasons.

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